AA Crack and Co Baby calf?

[ovlov]

Has anyone had any experience with bespoke shoes of this leather?

http://www.aacrack.co.uk/catalogue.asp?product_id=78

I'm having some shoes made and this is one of the options the shoemaker has.

I have a pretty awful sense of imagination so i'm concerned what the leather will look like as a finished product.

Does anone have any experience with this product and can comment on quality, etc?
also if anyone can point5 me in the direction of some pics of finished products using this leather (especially in the navy or burgundy range) it would bve greatly appreciated.Or if anyone knows of any RTW lines that use this leather that would be sweet.

Cheers

 

[Xenon]

I have no pictures but I have i few small pieces of it and it is top of the line straight veg tanned leather. It is very smooth soft and burnishes very well.

 

[DWFII]

I've looked at it...it's a very nice leather. I was particularly impressed with the fineness of the grain. It is more like a crust than a finished leather however (although it was not recommended to me as a crust). It actually has no finish to speak of so your maker will have to burnish and add whatever finish the shoe will have.

Also the calf seemed thin to me--2-2.5 ounce.. I asked about a heavier version and received a swatch of the same tannage, etc., in more like a 3-1/2 ounce (veal?) --far better for men's shoes IMO.

I don't know where you're located but it seemed like big penalty for importing it to the US what with freight, customs and vat, etc...

And...opinion only based on my own but limited experience...like a lot of old reputable British firms AACrack isn't very responsive to emails or even the idea of export across the pond. I'm sure these firms could do a lot more business but they don't seem to want it. I was told that if they dealt with folks like me, they wouldn't have enough leather to meet the demands of local shoemakers. I respect that, I regret it but I respect it.

--

 

[DWFII]



I have no pictures but I have i few small pieces of it and it is top of the line straight veg tanned leather. It is very smooth soft and burnishes very well.

Xenon,

What are you burnishing it with if I may be so bold as to ask?

 

[GBR]

Can your shoe maker not help with its suitability for shoes?

 

[poorsod]

I have a GG side laced wholecut made in baby calf. Presumably it was from AA Crack. You can find a picture of it in the bespoke shoe thread. I don't think you can tell the difference from regular calf by sight. It is buttery soft.

 

[DWFII]



I have a GG side laced wholecut made in baby calf. Presumably it was from AA Crack. You can find a picture of it in the bespoke shoe thread. I don't think you can tell the difference from regular calf by sight. It is buttery soft.

That's not a given. "Baby calf" is almost a generic term. The AACrack stuff is, I believe, properly called "burnishable baby calf"

All the AACrack samples I received...and even on their website this is illustrated...are dull looking and tonally one dimensional in the raw state. Even their "black" is more a dark charcoal than a true black. If you burnish the leather and apply waxes the true black comes out. But because it has to be burnished and given a "finish" of sorts the colour can vary from one section of the shoe to another...just as with crust.

I cannot speak for what your shoes are made of with any certainty but if you say they look like regular calf...I suspect they are not the AACrack burnishable calf.

 

[poorsod]

I was under the impression that GG got most of their bespoke leather from Crack. I asked for the shoes in "antiqued" black so maybe that is why they chose to make it in the baby calf. When I got the shoes they didn't look antiqued to me, so I figured they polished it through completely.

 

[chogall]

How do you burnish leather in a shoemaker sense? Wax and heated iron? Or wax with high speed polishing wheel?

 

[DWFII]



I was under the impression that GG got most of their bespoke leather from Crack. I asked for the shoes in "antiqued" black so maybe that is why they chose to make it in the baby calf. When I got the shoes they didn't look antiqued to me, so I figured they polished it through completely.

Well, maybe so. Post some photos, won't you?

 

[DWFII]



How do you burnish leather in a shoemaker sense? Wax and heated iron? Or wax with high speed polishing wheel?

Burnishing is generally a function of rubbing. On the sample swatches I got...after talking to Tony...I just used some neutral shoe creme. With a little pressure and some vigorous rubbing a pecan brown turned into a cafe au laite..

Any good outsole leather will burnish and that's part of what I do to finish off a shoe--I prepare the grain with a very fine piece of Abralon (an auto body abrasive running from 500 to 4000 grit). Then I wet the leather and allow it to sit for a little bit...couple of minutes. As it tempers, I take a polished bone and rub firmly, evenly and persistently until the leather is dry. The colour of the leather will deepen and the surface will glaze to the point of a near mirror shine. The rest of the process is proprietary and doesn't have anything to do with burnishing per se.

No heat in either case, but I wouldn't rule mild heat out for some applications.

Not all leathers will burnish the same way. That's why I asked Xenon what he was doing.

 

[poorsod]

regular black calf vs baby calf. Both bespoke.

Boring black.



As requested by luk-cha. New vs old.

 

[chogall]

Burnishing is generally a function of rubbing. On the sample swatches I got...after talking to Tony...I just used some neutral shoe creme. With a little pressure and some vigorous rubbing a pecan brown turned into a cafe au laite..

Any good outsole leather will burnish and that's part of what I do to finish off a shoe--I prepare the grain with a very fine piece of Abralon (an auto body abrasive running from 500 to 4000 grit). Then I wet the leather and allow it to sit for a little bit...couple of minutes. As it tempers, I take a polished bone and rub firmly, evenly and persistently until the leather is dry. The colour of the leather will deepen and the surface will glaze to the point of a near mirror shine. The rest of the process is proprietary and doesn't have anything to do with burnishing per se.

No heat in either case, but I wouldn't rule mild heat out for some applications.

Not all leathers will burnish the same way. That's why I asked Xenon what he was doing.

 

[mactire]

I have a pretty awful sense of imagination so i'm concerned what the leather will look like as a finished product
Does anone have any experience with this product and can comment on quality, etc?
also if anyone can point5 me in the direction of some pics of finished products using this leather (especially in the navy or burgundy range) it would bve greatly appreciated.Or if anyone knows of any RTW lines that use this leather that would be sweet.

I got some for my shoemaker [unfunded as yet] for dress boots and he said it was 'bloody brilliant' so he's happy enough. Again it all depends on what you want made. Its one of their more expensive leathers too.

And...opinion only based on my own but limited experience...like a lot of old reputable British firms AACrack isn't very responsive to emails or even the idea of export across the pond. I'm sure these firms could do a lot more business but they don't seem to want it. I was told that if they dealt with folks like me, they wouldn't have enough leather to meet the demands of local shoemakers. I respect that, I regret it but I respect it.

--

DWFII, would love to know the heavier version of this calf that they have, not all their range is on the site as you know. When dealing with companies who either don't export or only use very expensive carriers I use parcel2go.com to book courier uplifts in the UK, they do services to the US as well which may be of interest to you.

 

[ovlov]

Thanks for the input guys. I'm feeling a lot better about things now. The issue is the shoemaker mostly makes more casual shoes in cow leather. This is the range he uses but given he has only just started with it he doesn't have much in the way of examples. I was concerned it may not be the best quality leather. Also the range of colours seem a little odd. The 'Oxblood' doesn't look like any oxblood i've ever seen, and there don't seem to be any other decent shades of tan or burgundy (I only own two pairs of dress shoes atm and both are black so want to expand). I'm looking at the 'deep sea' but there doesn't seem to be a single picture online of anything in that material and shade. It therefore occurred to methat this may not be a popular range of leather for mens footwear.